The Cursed Heir

Chapter Fourteen

Her body was being jostled, lifted, lowered. Different hands, more voices. Sleep. So much noise.

"Cass? Cassie?" Another familiar voice, worried and tense, was calling. "Open your eyes, darling. Look at me."

The order dragged her unwillingly back into consciousness and Cassie opened her eyes. James hovered over her, his torso curled over her protectively.

"Send for Skylar," James told someone beyond her vision. There was a murmur of protest, then he snarled, "I don't care! Find him!"

Why did he sound so angry? When had he gotten to the square?

She could still hear Avery's voice distantly. "...passed out on the battlefield; I haven't been able to keep her awake since. Her head took a pretty bad hit, but the bleeding should have stopped by now. I had to get her out of there before she was caught. The healers would have sold her out for half a coin."

"Battlefield? What are you talking about? She was visiting family." James was bewildered.

He wasn't supposed to know she had been in battle. Avery shouldn't be telling people. He was going to spill all her secrets.

Cassie slowly shook her head once. "Mmm," she mumbled, her brows drawn together with the effort. She couldn't get much else out. Her throat was so raw, and there was something else...wrong.

The small movement drew James' attention immediately. "Cassie?" he said, his voice breaking in relief. With quick, frantic fingers, he wiped the grime from her cheeks. "What's happened?"

His touch was soothing. Cassie blinked a few times, trying to force her vision to clarify, but it only blurred more. There was terror lurking in her heart, and she didn't want to be alone. She didn't want James to go away.

But she was so tired. Each time she blinked, it took longer and longer to open her eyes again, until she couldn't remember if she'd opened her eyes or not, until she forgot why she should, and sleep reclaimed her.

She woke to find that she had been tucked into her bed at Aldine's. The sun had set and her room was dark, but she could hear raised voices downstairs—or rather, one raised voice, and several frantic hushing ones.

For the first time in days, Cassie felt her curiosity stirring. It sounded like someone was tremendously angry. What could have happened? Considering the argument was taking place below her bedroom, Cassie reasoned she had a right to know what it was about.

As silently as the old wood allowed, Cassie cracked her door open and slipped downstairs. The voices grew clearer with each step she took, until she reached the bottom of the staircase and could hear everything being said in the living room. Carefully taking a seat on the step, she leaned back against the wall to listen. Head pounding and stomach mercifully empty, she had no energy to stand.

"How could you possibly think it not worth mentioning in the two weeks she's been gone?" James was demanding loudly.

"James, please," Aldine implored him in a whisper. "She's still sleeping."

He lowered his voice only slightly. "Two weeks, Wynne," he repeated. "We could have stopped her! Do you have any idea how many men die in these battles?" He sounded like he was sneering. "Of course, you're a woman, so I don't expect you to, but—"

"I am perfectly aware," Wynne hissed. "More than you, probably. You think I don't know? These are our men dying, our fathers, sons, our—" she choked on the last word, then forced it out, though it was subdued. "Our brothers."

"But you thought she would be able to walk away unscathed?" James said. "She's tiny, Wynne. Sunshine and rain, what did you think would happen?"

A quiet voice cut through the tension. "My lord, if I may chime in—"